Founders Tower condos to go on auction block again
Owners hope high housing demand will lead to sales
Nearly two years after the last attempted sale of condos in one of Oklahoma City’s most recognizable buildings almost flopped, owners are bullish on the possibility a hot market now could lead to improved sales at Founders Tower.
In March 2019, the owners did not get what they wanted when the units went for auction. But times have changed, to put it mildly. Demand for housing is through the roof, and the Kelly family, the owners, hope to take it to the bank.
“We think that this is just a good time,” spokesman Trevor Kelly said. “We’ve been trying to read the tea leaves in the marketplace. Real estate has been doing really well. Whether it’s a home or flat-ground real estate, the prices out there in the marketplace are really amazing for Oklahoma.”
In the last sale, 29 condos were offered in the architecturally remarkable building. Just 10 were sold at the time for a combined $2 million, plus some commercial space for another $700,000 — with buyers taking bargains.
The tower is easily recognizable to most anyone who has spent extended time in Oklahoma City, thanks to features including the once-revolving restaurant on the top floor, the cantilevered balconies that grace each vertex around its 10-sided exterior, and its drive-up base,
oriented as it is to auto travel.
This time, 22 condos will be offered in the tower at 5900 Mosteller Drive site, on Oct. 14. It’s a mix of one- and twobedroom units, and two three-bedroom penthouses. New owners will stake a claim in a truly iconic and historic Oklahoma City mixed-use building.
Great Recession, bad timing
The Kelly family, anchored in Bristow, invested in Founders Tower, nearly 15 years ago. It was an office building when constructed in 1963, and the Kellys spent $50 million redeveloping it in 2007-2008, which turned out to be awful timing.
Condo sales, Kelly said in 2019, never recovered from the Great Recession of 2007-2009. So the owners turned to renting them for income and to cash buyers for most of the ones that did sell because conventional loans weren’t an option.
That’s not the case anymore. Now there’s a housing shortage, and a wacky sellers’ market with buyers often paying more for homes than sellers are asking. At August’s end, 74 condos were for sale in Oklahoma City, just a 1.4-month supply, according to the Metro Association of Realtors.
Another thing improving the chances for a more successful auction: Founders Tower is in “much better and improved” condition compared to two years ago, and is being well maintained, said Christopher Lopes, owner of Covenant Brothers Tailors, in Suite 7 since 1993.
The shop is in one of several retail and office spaces in the otherwise residential building, including the restaurant on the 20th floor, which Lopes said is open only for special occasions, and the 12,500-square-foot former Queen Ann Cafeteria. Both are for sale but not part of the upcoming auction.
The two saltwater swimming pools are in good shape, and the landscaping has been upgraded, he said.
“It’s all been positive,” Lopes said. Kelly said not much more has been done because the building didn’t need much, having been “taken down to the superstructure and rebuilt” as part of the owners’ initial investment.
National Register of Historic Places
Founders Tower — originally United Founders Life Tower, for developerowner United Founders Life Insurance Co. — was listed on the National Register of Historic Places for its distinctive architecture.
The design was influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright’s Price Tower in Bartlesville, completed in 1955, and nationally known Oklahoma architect Bruce Goff ’s boldness in tower design.
Just as noteworthy, perhaps, is the skyscraper’s place in many Oklahomans’ memories.
“Visiting the restaurant atop United Founders Tower was a very special experience for many Oklahomans, with thrilling vistas, the excitement of the revolving platform and the sense of arrival at the end of its broad landscaped boulevard,” preservation consultant Steven McQuillin noted on the registration for the building’s entry on the National Register.
The tower’s architectural distinction is in the details — and the mid-century timing.
“It is a highly individual mid-20thcentury high-rise building that showcases a limited time frame in which recent technological developments and the freedom to experiment in architecture gave rise to rare building forms and details, as exemplified in the folded plate roof system and unusual slender decagonal form of this tower, plus its cantilevered balconies,” according to the State Historic Preservation Office.
Its development in the early 1960s helped boost growth around Northwest Expressway, May Avenue and Lake Hefner.
“The unusual form of this building responds very well to its relatively isolated location at one of the highest elevations in the region, highly visible from nearby freeways and Lake Hefner,” according to the preservation office. “It helped to catalyze the development of the northwest side of Oklahoma City and facilitated the development of other high-rise buildings in the vicinity.
“United Founders Life Tower was a singular work of an architectural firm of regional renown and it displays innovative framing techniques as well as being an early example of design-build construction.”
Historic. Distinctive. Improved. And the owners have to be happy with the change in the market since last time. They are sellers in a sellers’ market.
Sellers’ market — but buyer’s choice
“In a buyer’s choice auction, bidders are competing for the right to choose first,” explained Williams & Williams, the group in charge of this auction at Founder’s Tower.
“The high bidder can choose one, some or all of the properties in a group and pays the high bid — multiplied by the number of units chosen. The bidding starts again and the subsequent high bidder now wins the right to choose next until all properties in that group have been chosen.”
The 22 condos will be offered in several groups.
“The groups are organized by the different floor plan options and make it easier for individual buyers to follow the auction,” said Fontana Fitzwilson, executive vice president of Williams & Williams.
“To incentivize buyers, the seller has specified that the first property chosen in most groups will be sold without reserve to the highest bidder.”
The units will be open for public inspection from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 2-3. People will also be able to view the indoor and outdoor pools, fitness center, club room, and common-area amenities.
Buyers will go under contract immediately following the auction and will be required to make a 10% down payment, with the balance due at closing in 30 days.
Online bidding is available during the live auction at auctionnetwork.com from a personal computer.
Go to Williamsauction.com/OKC for additional photos of the units being sold and the terms of sale.